Bloodstone's in Her Hair: A Bishie World Prophecy
by libranravenclaw
Summary: A Bishie world fic! Ilandere opens a strange email one day and finds herself in a completely different world where you can catch your favorite anime characters! Ch.3 up
1. Come away, O human child!

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the anime/manga/game/book etc characters, save for Ilandere, she belongs solely to me. **

_**'Bloodstone's in Her Hair' : A Bishounen World Prophecy**_

'Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild With a faery hand in hand, For the worlds more full of weeping than you can understand...

He comes, the human child! To the waters and the wild With a faery hand in hand, From a world more full of weeping than he can understand' - W.B. Yeats "The Stolen Child"

_**Chapter One: 'Come away, O human child!'**_

Ilandere rolled her shoulders, ignoring the people giving her odd looks on the street, singing softly below her breath, along with her cd player. The ear buds were hidden by her long dark hair, and the wires attached to them went over her shoulders and into the small open space she had unzipped in her little black backpack. She skipped now and then, her black shoes scuffing the pavement, her bell-bottom jeans brushing against the ground and some people would stop and watch her. When this happened Ilandere felt like a freak because she simply could not see herself. Ilandere was not the most beautiful girl in the world, but nor was she average, rather, somewhere in between. Ilandere was considered cute, but her charisma was what drew people to her. Her moods radiated from her and affected anyone around and since all she felt now was cool indifference, the feeling was mirrored back to her in other peoples eyes. Ilandere yawned and pulled on the corduroy lapel of her black jacket, un-twisting it from the backpack straps as she glanced into the L.A. shops. A thin silver chain, from which hung a tiny silver bell bounced against the cerulean blue shirt she wore, ringing softly, but Ilandere had gotten used to it and didn't notice it overmuch. She wore a large silver thumb ring, a crowned skull carved into it's surface, on her left hand, as well as a metallic blue band with Celtic symbols on her pointer finger. Ilandere's right hand was bare save for a large white scar over the knuckle of her pinky and another scar shaped like a tear-drop on the base of her thumb. Ilandere suddenly stopped, looking into an Internet cafe and debated a moment before heading inside. The cafe wasn't large, sort of like a small-town Starbucks, with fancy decorating, but not too many tables or chairs and obviously it wasn't very popular, or this wasn't the busy time of day. Only two other people sat at computers at the tables, clicking away on laptops. Ilandere walked over to a table in the back and slipped off her bag, digging around and first pulling out her cd player, so her laptop wouldn't get tangled in the headphones, and then her laptop. It took her a few moments to hook up and while she waited for the Internet to connect she walked to the woman standing behind the counter and paid enough money for twenty minutes of access.

Ilandere hummed along with one of her favorite songs, 'Cold' by a band named Crossfade, her own fingers rapidly clicking away as she went to the Yahoo! web page and signed into her e-mail. The humming continued, slightly annoying the other customers there, whom did their best to ignore her and the clicking that continued to get faster as she typed up an e-mail and sent it on its way. It took Ilandere a few minutes before she got to the bottom of her inbox, it had to have been at least a week since she signed into her e-mail and she had tons from forums and websites she was signed up for, as well as one from her machine-whiz of an uncle, telling her that her digital camera was fixed. Suddenly Ilandere froze, tilting her head to one side in consideration as she stared at the last e-mail, which was blank. There was no title, not even the revert of 'None' that was inserted into blank titled yahoo e-mails, and there also wasn't a name or address explaining who it was from. Ilandere's eyes narrowed, the word virus immediately came to mind, but she thought of her uncle and shrugged. She wasn't on the computer that much anyway, he could fix it before she ever really needed it again if it was a virus. Ilandere laughed beneath her breath and clicked on the simple blue line. As the e-mail opened, she noted that the cafe didn't have particularly fast access, Ilandere tapped her fingertips on the edge of her keyboard with the drum accompaniment in the next song on her mix cd. One of the women sitting at a near-by table shot her an annoyed look, but Ilandere didn't notice.

She snapped her fingers when it finally finished loading, biting her bottom lip and raising her dark eyebrows when all she got was a link. Ilandere's eyes, a soft grey, that when in the right light appeared silver, showed amusement. She had expected some sort of virus, or even some sick porn site sending her an e-mail, but just a link? Ilandere laughed again and decided that it must be a porn site, even though it didn't have any type of sick words in the address and went to delete it. A bubble suddenly appeared on her screen, right when her arrow hovered over the delete button.

'_Take a Look!_' The bubble stated and Ilandere laughed again, loudly this time, causing the other woman to huff in annoyance and slam her computer shut, getting ready to leave.

"Do I want to, is the question." Ilandere stated, her fingers poised over the keyboard, but the computer didn't answer her. Ilandere looked at her computers clock and then decided that she would, she had ten minutes left and it would be a waste if she didn't use them up. She moved the arrow and clicked on the link, expecting dirty pictures. Instead it went to a website that stated in large letters 'BISHOUNEN', that imitated the Pokemon font. To either side of the word were spinning black and silver balls that resembled poke-balls. For a moment, deciding it was a cheap Pokemon knock-off story, Ilandere almost closed the site, but as she stared at the word her interest piqued. Sighing Ilandere scrolled down the page, reading the hook of the site.

"Well, what do you know? It is like a Pokemon knock-off." Ilandere muttered, though not with any ill-will. Ilandere wasn't what was considered an 'otaku', but she read enough manga and watched enough anime to appreciate at least a little of Pokemon. She pursed her soft pink lips, thinking and staring at the 'Become a Trainer' button, before her eyes darted to the clock. She was interested now, but she only had two minutes, she would register and then check it out at home later. Ilandere chuckled to herself, wondering why she was allowing the site to draw her into it's silly little idea and then clicked on the button, still smiling.

When nothing happened after a moment Ilandere's smile faded and she raised an eyebrow as the screen began to fade to blackness. She started to shake her head in annoyance, she knew it was too good to be true, it _was_ a virus, but then found she couldn't move. Ilandere sucked in a frightened breath, wondering if she was having a seizure because of some secret flashing light made by the sick webmasters, when the screen turned on again. It flashed brilliant colors, neon blue, bright red, magenta and fluorescent green and then they all seemed to melt together. It sort of dripped along the screen, like bright technicolor acid, getting bright and brighter, until it was so bright it was dark. That was when Ilandere realized everything else had gone dark around her too.

---

Ilandere's eyes were closed as tightly as could be, her hands clenching the backpack in her lap, groaning softly. Instead of the cool air she had felt in L.A. the breeze hitting her face was warm and soft, her cd player was still going, though one of her ear buds had fallen out. Ilandere opened her eyes, only to groan again at the brightness, her hands searching through her bag to find the off button on the cd player. It took her a moment, but Papa Roach was silenced, leaving a soft ringing in her left ear. Ilandere fumbled again, removing the ear bud from her ear, her fingertips brushing against the small cartilage piercing and slowly opened her eyes a fraction. She was sitting in the middle of an empty road, with bright sun overhead and trees surrounding on either side. As her eyes got used to the light they opened as wide as they could, surprised beyond belief. One moment, the Internet cafe in L.A., the next... Somewhere. Ilandere took a deep breath, rather than screech like she felt the need to and got to her feet, shoving her cd player into the bag and zipping it up, shouldering it quickly. Nobody was around, at least from what she could see, and nothing odd seemed to be happening. Ilandere found the frown on her face deepening and shook her head, almost in disappointment.

"When you're transported to a different world the least they could do is put you in the middle of some sort of ruckus, maybe I'm simply one of the unlucky ones." Ilandere sighed and then started walking down the road, her lips slightly thinned. As she walked she pondered the website and seriously considered that she might have gone into a coma because of the seizure the flashing lights on the screen had given her. At least, she thought she had had a seizure. Ilandere sighed again, kicking a few rocks and passing a sign, not really paying attention. She took a few more steps and then froze, turning on her heel and jogging back to the sign and standing in front of it to read it.

_Welcome to Emren City! The Forest Home of Bishounen and Humans!_

Ilandere's lips parted and she shook her head, she had never heard of a place named 'Emren City'. For a moment she considered the sign and then looked past it, at the road the turned sharply into the trees about a hundred feet ahead of her, blocking the view of whatever lay there.

"Why do I have the feeling that my coma world will get even weirder?" Ilandere muttered to herself, straightening out the lapels of her jacket and marching on down the road, pursing her lips. Even thought she was slightly disappointed that she had been dropped into a quiet coma world, she didn't mind the warm breeze or the soft chirping of birds. It was nice to be out of the city, if at least for a little while. Ilandere had actually grown up in a small town, where everyone knew everybody else and everybody was a gossip. It had been boring some of the time, almost every small town kid wants to live in the big city, but Ilandere had been sure of her friends and sure of her future, at least, for a little while. They had moved to the city when she was fourteen, three years ago and Ilandere had found that she didn't really like it all that much. L.A. was full of homeless people and criminals. If you smiled at an older person, you wouldn't get a smile in return, like in Ilandere's hometown, they would frown and watch their things more closely, sure that you had stolen from them. Ilandere had trouble finding her way around the school, and though she wasn't picked on, she couldn't say that she had many friends. She had gone through phases, dressing in goth clothes for a while and very, very, shortly, adopting the valley girl way of life. That phase had lasted less than two days and she was back to darker, if not "gothy" clothing. Eventually Ilandere had made up her own style, dressing comfortably, though in colors that actually suited her, instead of all black, which made her look deathly pale, or pink, which made her look sickly. Though one of the few things that hadn't changed about Ilandere was that she liked anime and manga. She wasn't sure how old she was when she had first seen 'My Neighbor Totoro' or the always popular: Sailor Moon, but after those, it had been a constant thing. None of her friends from her hometown had gotten into it, other than to have her doodle them as characters and exclaim over the style, but neither had they made fun of her for it. Ilandere ran a hand through her hair as she approached the sharp turn, leaning over to peer around the tree she was standing next to. Ilandere's lower jaw dropped, her eyes widening in surprise as she came face to face with a large wrought-iron gate. It wasn't locked, but was merely closed, with two men walking back and forth behind it. Ilandere moved from behind the tree, her grey eyes still open wide, staring at the gate. One of the men, a guard of some sort, noticed and smiled, waving as he walked over.

"Morning to you, ma'am, would you be willing to show us your Dex please?" He asked, opening the gate and stepping towards her a little. Ilandere noticed that the other guard was holding a tall spear and the one in front of her had a large broadsword, though it was still inside it's sheath. Ilandere's mouth opened and closed for a moment, even more confused than before.

"Okay, I know I'm in a seizure-induced coma, but I didn't think my mind would make up words." Ilandere muttered, rubbing her temples before she smiled uncertainly at the guard, who obviously hadn't heard her. "Um, I apologize, but I have no idea what a Dex is." She finally replied, expecting the guard to turn her on her way. Instead he straightened, his smile brightening as he looked at her waist, shaking his head.

"Oh no, ma'am, don't apologize! I should have known, seeing that you don't have a Bish-belt yet. Come right in and I'll take you to the Orientation building." The guard opened the gate wider, to let her in, so Ilandere quickly stepped through, not sure what to do with herself. The guard turned to his companion, shrugging.

"Sixth one this week that appeared outside the gates, you got to take the last guy, it's my turn, be back in a minute." With which the man turned on his heel and began walking down the road, though now it had buildings on either side instead of trees. Ilandere hurried to catch up, staring at some of the names of the places, obviously in awe about what was happening.

"Um, sir, I know I'm in Emren City now, but what country am I in? And sixth one this week? People randomly show up here?" Ilandere furrowed her eyebrows, asking, but not really facing the guard, being too busy staring at one of the buildings, which was titled BISH-MART. The guard laughed happily, giving her a smile and nodding.

"Yes, it's quite normal for people to drop out of the sky here, save that most of the time they appear inside city gates, or at a smaller town, which usually has no gates, that way they don't have to be asked for Identification, seeing as they don't have it yet. Ah, here is the Orientation building, sorry for the trouble, I hope you enjoy your time here." The guard said, smiling again as he opened the door to the building, which looked much more normal than the ones surrounding it. Ilandere gave him an uncertain smile in return and walked inside. To Ilandere the inside looked like a doctor's waiting room. There were chairs along the walls and set up in the middle, along with small coffee tables, which were decked with magazines. The walls were white and only had a few framed pictures, one of which had the character Utena posing with an unknown man. The picture startled Ilandere for a moment, but she continued her surveying of the room. There was a young woman sitting behind a desk, clicking away on her computer, obviously a receptionist. There were a few other people, teenagers, most younger than her, but maybe two as old, or a year older than herself. They all looked up as she came in, just as startled as Ilandere thought she must look. The receptionist clapped her hands happily, standing up.

"Oh, another one! Take a seat and the Professor's Bishie will be down to get you in a few moments, they'll explain everything." The receptionist waited until Ilandere had sat down and picked up a magazine before sitting down herself. Ilandere stared around for a moment again, a thirteen year old girl, sitting closest to her looked rather scared, but most everyone just appeared startled and in awe. Ilandere finally looked down at the magazine in her hands, wondering if all people in a coma went into a type of networked coma-dream, and then nearly dropped the magazine. It was filled with pictures of anime characters and descriptions. Ilandere gaped as she flipped through the pages, even more strongly reminded of Pokemon than when she had seen the website that morning. The magazine was a guide on where you could catch certain types of what it called 'Bishounen and Bishoujo'. She read a passage that outlined where wild Slayer-Bishies would be roaming and scoffed, setting the magazine back down on the table as the door in the corner opened and people filed out. She watched in interest as they walked by, about half of them were holding slim black and silver phone-type devices and wearing a black belt from which the small silver and black balls she had seen on the website this morning were hanging. Ilandere shook her head, guessing that this was the place all seizure-induced coma people went to if they watched whatever happened on that website. After all of the teenagers had filed out the door, along with suspiciously familiar characters walking beside them a voice asked for their attention.

"New Trainers, will you please follow me! I'll take you to the Professor's room, after which you will owe me 10 gold ryo each!" Tamahome, _Tamahome_, from Fushigi Yugi, told them, giving them all a wide smile. A girl shrieked with joy and tried to tackle him, but Tamahome dodged her, laughing and running up the stairs. Ilandere found herself looking at a few of the other teenagers before following cautiously. Ilandere took a deep breath as she was walking up the stairs, shaking her head softly.

_No, this isn't happening! My coma is being tied in with that Bishounen site, I swear, this cannot be happening._

But Ilandere's thoughts were interrupted as a kind female voice asked them to follow her into the classroom. Ilandere looked up, blinking at the bright pink of the young woman's hair, but relaxing a little at the smile. The young woman was probably around 21, with small glasses that looked good on her, instead of making her look awkward. She wore a long lab coat and Tamahome was clinging to her arm, still smiling, but appearing disturbed. One of the guys that had been with the group downstairs was holding back the young woman who had tried to attack Tamahome, physically carrying her into the classroom. As Ilandere passed the Professor and Tamahome she couldn't help but stop and look him over. Ilandere gave the Professor a sheepish smile.

"Can I poke him, just to see if he's real?" Ilandere was surprised to see the laughter in the woman's eyes, but the Professor smiled wider and nodded. For a moment she hesitated, but then Ilandere gently poked Tamahome's hand where he was holding onto the Professor and then looked back up at her with wide eyes.

"He is real! Ah, thanks, I'm sorry, it was an odd question." Ilandere was now the last 'student' to walk into the room, so the Professor shook her head, understanding.

"Don't worry, honey, really. First I'm glad you asked and I think Tamahome's glad all you wanted to do was poke him, unlike the girl who attempted a glomp earlier. Besides, I was the same way when I got here, save that I was more like the girl that walked in there, trying to glomp Bishounen and Bishoujo!" The Professor laughed as she walked inside, Tamahome still clinging to her arm, with Ilandere following them. She found a seat as soon as she went inside, up near the front and waited for the Professor to begin.

"Hello everyone! You can call me Professor Lana, or just Professor. Now, I'm sure all of you have questions, but they can wait until the end, by then I might have even answered it. First, we'll start off with the website. You all went to it, it had strange little black and silver balls, sort of like poke-balls, am I right?" Professor Lana asked them. Every single person in the room nodded, glancing at each other to make sure they weren't the only ones. Professor Lana smiled again, nodding in return and picking up a piece of chalk to draw on the blackboard behind her. She quickly drew two large circles and one smaller circle that looked like a poke-ball.

"Alright, we can move on a little. This circle here is Earth, where you all came from, this is a Bish-ball, but in this diagram it will represent the Bishounen website, okay? And this last circle is the world you're in now, what I call the Bish-world. Now, you're all on Earth, bored or some such and you check your e-mail, which gives you a link to the Bishounen website." Professor Lana turned back to the board and drew and arrow from Earth to the Bish-ball in the diagram. Everyone murmured their understanding and she continued.

"Okay, you're on the Bishounen website, la de da, you click on the 'Make me a Trainer' button and then you experience a weird, maybe vertigo-like feeling, then you wake up and bam! You've been transported to the Bish-world. That's how you got here. Now, the technicalities are beyond me, really, so I can't explain _how_ the website got you here, just that it did. People take you to me, that way you can start your journey." Professor Lana looked over her shoulder, as if to say 'with me so far?' Everyone nodded once more.

"Good, now. This place has every Bishounen and Bishoujo character you can imagine and it's not just anime and manga characters, though those are definitely more rampant. There are book, movie and game characters, even from TV, but realize that this doesn't mean the _actor_ is a Bishounen, they already exist in our world, so they don't need to exist here. Now, you're here because you truly _believe_ in a show, or book, or even a single character. Being here allows you to capture them, just like on Pokemon, but believe me, having a Bishounen or Bishoujo is not like having a pet. They're different than us, but essentially they have all the same rights, so respect them, please. There are Bishie cities, but those are hidden from us, and don't go looking for them, you'll either be in big trouble, or simply get kicked out of here. Is there anyone who'd like to leave now?" For a moment no one moved, then everyone shook their heads, even the scared thirteen year old girl.

"I didn't think so, but I had to check. Okay, now on to stages. There are three stages of Bishies. Sama, San and Chibi. Sama is like an adult, San a teenager and Chibi a child. Chibi's are not allowed to be captured, unless they are born of your Bishies or the parents decide to give you guardianship and let you capture them, though that's pretty rare. Also, the bond to your Bishie's are very strong, you cannot let them go more than three miles away from you and if they stay that way from more than forty-eight hours, they will go mad and die. For the moment, I'll pause to let you ask me questions before we go into one of the upper rooms for you to get your first Bishie." The little thirteen year old raised her hand, biting the nail of her thumb on her other hand, so Professor Lana called on her.

"Um, w-well, what about our p-parents?" To which Professor Lana smacked herself.

"Oh, of course, I apologize! Okay, let's get another diagram." Professor Lana quickly drew two rectangles on the board and then turned to the class.

"Alright, say this is a the first story you ever wrote, you're working on it, et cetera, but eventually, you get writers block. You stop and move onto a new story, here and start writing. You don't have to go back to the first story, but if you ever do, things won't have changed. Time will have passed, dust may have covered the paper, but you can continue to write it. That's what happens. When you leave your world, everyone forgets about you, so they don't worry, don't miss you and freak out. But if you ever go back, time will have passed, you'll be older, but everyone will remember you, they'll have memories of you and you can sort of go back to normal, though you won't forget this place, at least, I don't think so. Okay, that all? Onwards and forwards!" Professor Lana stated, walking out of the classroom, Tamahome now latched onto her arm again. Ilandere got up quickly and was the first to follow, speaking with Professor Lana as they walked.

"So this isn't some sort of coma? I thought the flashing lights gave me a seizure! That's a relief." Professor Lana laughed softly and smiled at Ilandere.

"No, don't worry, this definitely isn't a coma. Who do you think you'd like as your first Bishie?" Professor Lana asked seriously. Ilandere furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head, she didn't know. Professor Lana opened a door and shooed Ilandere inside, followed by the other new Trainers. The room suddenly became very quiet and Ilandere felt her face flush red as she stared at the Bishounen and Bishoujo in the room. There was about fifty of them, where there was only about nine teenagers coming in, Professor Lana soon took center stage.

"Okay everybody, yeah I know, there are a lot of Bishie's here, but don't freak out. You have no idea how many people appear here everyday, which is why we have so many Bishies voluntarily here for capturing, you have about twenty minutes to choose. Okay minna! Go ahead and mingle!" With that Professor Lana and her clinging Tamahome walked out of the room. There were characters from Final Fantasy, both the games and movie, as well as the Kingdom Hearts heroes, Sora, Riku and Roxas. There were anime characters from Sailor Moon, Cowboy Bebop, DNAngel, Fruits Basket, Nana, Fushigi Yugi, Inu-Yasha and Outlaw Star, among countless others that Ilandere couldn't name. A handful of book characters from series like The WayFarer Redemption, Symphony of the Ages and some she didn't know littered the room. Ilandere could feel her heart pounding in her chest as the characters and Trainers began to speak. She wandered around the room, feeling slightly out of place until she bumped into Roxas from Kingdom Hearts II.

"Hey, nice to meet you, I'm Roxas." He said, smiling and holding out a hand. Ilandere shook it, smiling back uncertainly and nodded as well.

"I'm Ilandere, nice to meet you too." Ilandere was still slightly amazed, Roxas' hand was warm, exactly like a humans would be and he was certainly friendly. The girl that had attempted to glomp Tamahome grabbed onto Roxas, squealing, so Ilandere gave Roxas an 'I'm sorry' smile and moved on. After a few more minutes Ilandere began to feel slightly more comfortable, but still jumped when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"Wow, look at you! A girl after my own heart, the name is Dark!" Dark, from the series DNAngel, slipped his arm around Ilandere's shoulders, leaning on her lightly. Ilandere blushed and laughed softly as she smiled.

"Nice to meet you Dark, I'm Ilandere." Dark gave Ilandere a grin, squeezing her shoulder.

"That's a pretty and unusual name! So, what do you think of me?" Ilandere laughed again and was about to answer when the girl who glomped Tamahome, and also seemed to be following her, Ilandere noticed with a twitch, ran towards Dark. Dark's eyes widened and he moved behind Ilandere, suddenly turning into Daisuke, still clutching her shoulders.

"Please, I'd prefer to have someone like you as my Trainer over her, could you, uh, stake a claim? Or something? Please, I'm sorry." Daisuke murmured. Ilandere noted with some surprise that it was an older Daisuke, probably in his Sama stage, seeing as he was taller than her and obviously not fourteen like he was in the anime and manga. She nodded in agreement and grabbed the girl's arm just as she went to glomp Daisuke, screaming his name.

"Sweetheart, really, there is no need to glomp them, though I completely understand how you feel. Besides, Daisuke is mine, I've already asked him to be my Bishounen, so you'll have to find someone else." Ilandere said it politely, but felt anger bubble up when the girl, who was around fourteen rolled her eyes at her.

"Ex_cuse_ me, but, like, you didn't say he said _yes_. Daiiiisuke, you didn't say yes, did you?" The teeny-bopper asked the Bishounen. Daisuke clutched onto Ilandere's shoulders tighter.

"Uh, actually, I did say I would be Ilandere's Bishounen, sorry. Um, there is a Satoshi Bishounen over there though." Daisuke murmured, pointing at the rival character from DNAngel. That Satoshi must have been in his San stage though, seeing as he was still fourteen. The teen-bopper 'ooo-ed' and then was off, to the apparent relief of Daisuke. He let go of Ilandere and smiled sheepishly.

"Ah, sorry, if you don't want me for your Bishounen, I'll go, but thanks a lot for saving me from _that_." Daisuke chuckled, though now he seemed embarrassed to Ilandere. Ilandere quickly shook her head and put her hand on his arm.

"No, I'd love to have you as my Bishounen, for real, please?" Daisuke blinked, wide eyed, but nodded happily, just as Professor Lana walked back into the room, clapping her hands for everyone's attention.

"Minna!! Good, I see everyone has found a Bishie. Follow me into the next room. Oh and the remaining Bishies, we have another set of new Trainers coming in, in about... ten minutes, ja!" Ilandere and the others followed Professor Lana out happily, chattering with their Bishounen and Bishoujo. Ilandere blinked in surprise, but smiled when she saw that the scared little thirteen year old had chosen the toughie, Gene Starwind from Outlaw Star. The valley girl teeny bopper was chattering away happily to a Miroku, clutching his arm. The Bishounen didn't know whether to be happy because of the contact or horrified from her chatter, Ilandere felt sorry for him. She ended up at the front of the line in front of a strange machine, where Professor Lana was holding a large extraction needle and smiling reassuringly at her. Ilandere cringed a little as Professor Lana took her arm, but simply turned her head away and grit her teeth, ready for the sharp pain from the needle.

"To the Trainers, I have to take a sample of your blood to make the Bish-balls, this ties your Bishies to you, that way, say, you lose a Bish-ball, you will _know_ it's yours, no question." The prick of the needle was sharp, but it only took a moment, after which Ilandere turned when she heard the whirring of the machine. She found that she had gripped Daisuke's hand when Professor Lana had taken her blood and slowly pulled her hand away from his.

"Ah, sorry, didn't mean to hold it so hard." Ilandere smiled and shrugged and then turned to Professor Lana, who was holding out a Bish-belt.

"Go ahead, put it on, believe me, you'll feel... Great after you do." Ilandere nodded and put on the belt, blinking. She felt-right. Just right. Ilandere unclipped a Bish-ball and held it out to Daisuke.

"I'd feel really odd hitting you on the head with it, so why don't you just poke the button?" Ilandere asked, laughing softly, to which Daisuke grinned and poked the button. There was a red flash of light, where Daisuke was sucked into the ball. It didn't shake at all, as if Daisuke had completely accepted his new Trainer. Ilandere shivered a little, the feeling of rightness only grew stronger.

"Man, I feel stupid saying this, uh, Daisuke, come out!" Ilandere cringed a little and then smiled when Daisuke came out of the Bish-ball, blinking.

"I expected it to be small and cramped but it's like school dorms or something!" He exclaimed, swiftly taking the Bish-ball out of Ilandere's hands and examining it. Ilandere turned back to Professor Lana when she heard her laughter and couldn't help but give another smile.

"Oh, yes, I forgot about the new feature. Anyway, here's your Dex, Ilandere, I hope your time spent here is good." With that Professor Lana squeezed Ilandere's shoulder and then continued on down the line of new Trainers. Daisuke handed Ilandere back the Bish-ball, so Ilandere hooked it back on her belt and the new Trainer and Bishounen walked back down the stairs, quickly followed by some of the others. Another group of new trainers sat in the lobby of the orientation building, some scared, others in awe. Ilandere stopped and patted a young boy on the shoulder, smiling politely.

"Don't worry, it seems really odd here at first, but you'll probably like it, it's an adventure." Ilandere laughed when she got out of the orientation building, Daisuke right beside her.

"That made me feel like some sort of odd mentor. Anyway... Oh, Daisuke, I have a favor to ask..." Ilandere gave him an embarrassed smile, looking at her feet. Daisuke's eyebrows furrowed together but he smiled back.

"Uh, what's that?" He asked.

"I know this is weird and I don't want to be like that little valley girl, so, can I, um... Not glomp, but can I hug you?" Ilandere's face turned red, but the fan-girl inside was obviously restraining herself. Daisuke blinked and then turned red as well and slowly opened his arms, but before Ilandere could take a step towards him, he changed into Dark, who grinned proudly and opened his arms wide.

"Come on, you know you want a hug!" Dark said, grinning still and taking a step towards her. Ilandere couldn't help but laugh, and hugged Dark happily, letting out a small squeal of appreciation.

"Thank you, a fan-girl can only resist for so long!" Ilandere laughed, pulling away and brushing the hair from her face. Dark shrugged, hanging one of his arms around her shoulders as they began to walk.

"We should probably head to that BISH-MART place to stock up on supplies." Dark told her, giving Ilandere another debonair smile, which caused her to laugh again, shaking her head. Dark looked surprised and raised his eyebrows, blinking in confusion.

"I am a fan-girl, Dark, I want to glomp as much as the next girl, I'm simply polite about it, but I do _not_ swoon, thank you very much. And yes, we should head to the BISH-MART, but I don't have any money.." Ilandere's eyebrows drew together as if she were in deep though, this time Dark laughed.

"You're a new trainer, you get stuff for free, they have like a 'new trainer kit' or something. Why don't you set up your Dex?" Dark suggested, shrugging as he explained about the free merchandise. Ilandere nodded and fished around in the pocket of her corduroy jacket, pulling out the Dex and flipping it open. It flashed on and then spoke in a computerized voice.

**Property of-?** Ilandere jumped, tilting her head, the Dex simply waited. After a moment it spoke again. **Property of-?** Ilandere shook her head and answered.

"Property of Ilandere." The Dex whirred in reply and the sentence appeared on it's screen. The Dex spoke again.

**Age-?**

"Age 17." The next stat appeared on the screen, then listed a few facts.

**Property of Ilandere, age 17, status: Novice Trainer. Bishounen/Bishoujo status: One, name: Daisuke/Dark Niwa. Stage: Sama. Nickname?** Ilandere shook her head and replied.

"No nickname." The Dex now just sat there. Ilandere closed it and shoved it into her pocket, still heading towards the BISH-MART with Dark's arm around her shoulders.

**Authors Notes:** Hey everyone! I stumbled across Songwind's original Bishie fic a couple days ago (and stayed up super late to read all of it) I definitely suggest reading it if you don't understand what my fic is about. After reading her fic though, I just couldn't stop thinking about it, I mean, how cool would it be to be able to catch Bishounen and Bishoujo? And like a handful of other people I had to start writing my own. (Lady Demoonica Darkmoon has a Bishie fic that is also definitely worth reading!) So here is Ilandere and her adventure, hope you enjoy, please review!


	2. Falling Words like Broken Jewels

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the anime/manga/game/book characters in this fic, save for Ilandere, Ilandere solely belongs to me.**

_**Bloodstone's in Her Hair: A Bishounen World Prophecy**_

'Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild With a faery hand in hand, For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand...

He comes, the human child! To the waters and the wild With a faery hand in hand, From a world more full of weeping than he can understand.' - W.B. Yeats "The Stolen Child"

_**Chapter Two: Falling Words like Broken Jewels**_

Ilandere sat just outside the gates of Emren city, beneath the cool shade of the forest that bordered either side of the main road, the things from her backpack strewn about in the grass. Her first Bishounen, Daisuke Niwa, who could turn into the phantom thief Dark, and was currently in said form, lounged against one of the tree trunks, watching his choice for a trainer, content that she was how she was. The wind was warm, but not hot and a few fluffy white clouds could be seen in the sky in between the branches of the forest canopy. Dark yawned, the warmth of the afternoon lulling him to sleep, but he forced his eyes to stay open, focusing on his trainer once more, silently laughing at her strict organization. Ilandere looked up at him, feeling his eyes on her and gave him an unsure smile, tilting her head to the side.

"Yes, Dark?" She asked politely, one hand holding a handful of capsules from the famous Capsule Corp. company, the other her beloved case of cds. Dark closed his eyes and shrugged, tapping his foot in the air with some unheard rhythm.

"Nothing, not really, just wondering why you have to organize everything like that." He opened an eye again as if to emphasize his point, staring at the handful of capsules. Ilandere couldn't help but laugh, shaking her head as she pulled out the little case she had gotten for capsules from BISH-MART. Sh e placed her cd case on the ground and flipped open the capsule case, dumping the capsules inside and then likewise setting this on the ground, pulling out a slim permanent marker from another pocket in her bag. She proceeded to mark the letter of what the capsule contained beneath each little holder, placing said capsule inside. After she was done she looked back up at Dark, only for him to hurriedly close his eyes, as if he wasn't really watching her.

"Boys. I'd rather organize my things now, get an idea of what I want to do, rather than set up camp tonight and spend about an hour searching through my bag for the sleeping bag capsules. Cause, bag or purse, it's proven, women cannot find anything they want in under ten minutes." Ilandere laughed again as Dark's eyes widened in surprise, the Bishounen sitting up a little.

"Really? Why don't you just dump the purse out and dig around in it then?" Dark crawled through the grass to the upturned bag, somehow making the crawling look dignified and picked up the cd case, opening it and flipping through the cd pages. Ilandere shook her head, smiling to herself as she placed the capsule case in the front most pocket of the little backpack as well as the permanent pen.

"I'm serious, it doesn't matter how you try to find something, digging around it in, dumping it out, it'll take a woman a little while. I didn't believe in it myself, until I was old enough to have an ID and everything that needs a purse. I remember looking for a calculator in my math class, it was always a hassle, because it would take me at the very least five minutes to find it. That's why most of the time I keep pens and pencils in my pants pockets and thats the _only_ thing I put in there." Ilandere explained, gently taking the cd case from Dark's hands and placing it in the bottom of her bag. She grabbed her cd player next, since these were the things she wouldn't need as much. Besides, she only liked to listen to music if she was alone when walking, and Ilandere was pretty sure that her Bishounen wasn't going to just up and leave. Dark meanwhile, nodded in understanding, standing up and stretching as Ilandere put her things away, happy with the organization. The only thing she left out was a map. Once Ilandere had shouldered her bag and picked up the map she walked back out onto the road, waiting for Dark to follow.

"So where would you like to head, Trainer mine?" Dark asked, his arms crossed behind his head. Ilandere started walking when he caught up with her, shrugging.

"I'm not really sure, besides the lady in the BISH-MART said that the world expands almost every time a new series or character is added to a series. This will be a pretty huge adventure, I suppose." Ilandere looked thoughtful, staring ahead, tapping her thumb on the map.

"What are you thinking about?" Dark questioned, walking a little faster. Ilandere was shorter than him, but obviously was used to walking fast, he didn't have to shorten his strides for her, or walk slower.

"Ah, well, about home, Professor Lana explained to us that our family and friends don't exactly know about us when we're here. I don't know, maybe it kind of annoys me a little? Because I remember my parents and siblings and friends, but they don't even know I exist right now. Not that I want to leave, it's just kind of irking. It's always nice to know you're missed. Besides, my little sister would have loved to be here too, she's thirteen and probably a bigger anime fanatic than I am, I guess I would have liked for her to tag along." Ilandere explained to Dark. Her Bishounen nodded and then wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Call it a guess, Dere, but I think that's why you're allowed to capture us. We keep you company, many times we're someone's greatest wish, some people fall in love with us, et cetera. It's like lining up a whole bunch of people and choosing you're friends, making sure they're the perfect example of a woman." Dark gave Ilandere a leering grin, but she just laughed it off, shaking her head and smiling.

"Or you can get a two-for-one deal. Daisuke and Dark, like 'em shy? Like 'em bold? This Bishounen has both qualities!" Ilandere laughed, shrugging slightly. Dark laughed with her, nodding in agreement, though for some reason he felt as if they were being watched.

---

The half-bishounen shivered, even though he was out in bright sunlight, clutching his arms. Like many of the half-bishounen, he had gone mad, but he knew it, in a round-about way. Earlier he had felt another new trainer cross the barrier into the Bish-world and as always it had made him growl and shake his head. Not because a new trainer was here, but simply because the crossing of the barriers irritated him. He could feel it, like an itch on his skin, a tickle behind his ear and sometimes like a heart-attack. The heart-attack feelings were few, this signaled that a trainer would be a _great_ one, a big part of the Bish-world and, since so many people came to the Bish-world every day, maybe one out of ten thousand would give him the heart-attack feeling. It had been more rampant years ago, around five years probably, to be exact. There had been two in one day, leaving him breathless with pain and soon after two of the _bad_ trainers had been either banned from the Bish-world, or kept in prison. But now the heart-attack feelings almost never happened, he had had one a year and a half ago, but it hadn't felt like the two he had had in one day. Both of those, even without being combined, had been more painful than almost anything. No, they hadn't happened in a long while... Until this morning. It was bigger than the one a year ago, but less than the two in the same day, not by much, but less. But it had been different, because they had never before caused him to speak. He had been growling and cursing as the new trainer made their way through the Bish-world, but it had made him start speaking as soon as he felt that the trainer had captured a Bishie, had a link to the Bish-world. The pain had then completely disappeared and he had started speaking. The words had fell, no, spilled from his mouth in a torrent, impatient to be said. It was almost as if he could watch them, watch the falling words like broken jewels scattered to the wind. He had begun repeating himself, he knew he would have to leave his little cave and tell someone, anyone, everyone, the words. In some dim recess of his mind he found a word to name all the words.

"Poem." He croaked and then shook his head, the word didn't feel right. He attempted a few more times to name the group of words, but eventually gave up, none of the words felt _right_. The half-bishounen began muttering the words to himself again, so as not to forget them. He mumbled some more, remembering a poem that a human had told him once and then disregarding it when suddenly his head hit upon the word to name all the words.

"Prophecy."

Ilandere had noticed that Dark kept looking over his shoulder and wondered if his home was Emren city, but for a while she had decided against asking him about it. After a while he had removed his arm from around her shoulders, not, she thought, because of not wanting to touch her, but because he had to lean over at an odd angle to do it after a while. She wasn't short, Ilandere was average, around 5'5", but Dark was just a little over six feet. Ilandere's thoughts went again to her little sister, thinking about when they were little and would play together or put their arms around each other, she had always gotten uncomfortable after a while, bending over sideways on someones shoulders is a workout if its for a long period of time. The scenery hadn't changed much, trees lined each side of the road and gave a little respite from the sun, though when Ilandere turned around she couldn't see the 'Emren City' sign any longer. Dark glanced over his shoulder again, looking rather anxious.

"What's wrong?" Ilandere asked quietly. For some reason she felt that she should be quiet, speak softly, otherwise she'd startle her Bishounen. Dark looked at her sideways and gave her a small smile, glad that she had such a soft voice naturally.

"Can I tell you something without you getting scared?" He asked, just as quietly as she had. Ilandere blinked owlishly at him, not sure she'd heard right, but the way he was looking at her made her think otherwise. Slowly Ilandere nodded in agreement, to which Dark graced her with another smile, casually taking her arm.

"I think there's someone following us, so I suggest that we use Wiz to get out of here. Just for now, if it's a free bishounen we can land and I'll fight him for you, okay?" Dark pursed his lips, as if to whistle, but no sound came out, that she could hear anyway. After a moment or two a strange little rabbit-looking creature lighted in front of them, happily jumping up and down. The fangirl in Ilandere came out and she held out her hands to Wiz, cooing softly.

"Aren't you adorable!" She scratched beneath his chin. Dark chuckled and shook his head, gently pulling Ilandere away from the small creature and saying in a serious voice:

"Time to transform Wiz!" In a heartbeat the little creature had changed into a pair of giant black angel wings and fixed themselves to Dark's back. Ilandere's Bishounen grinned as he wrapped his arms around her waist, wiggling his eyebrows.

"_This_ will be an adventure." He told her and then launched himself into the air. Ilandere had known that Dark could use Wiz to fly, she'd seen the anime, but she had never thought she'd experience it! When her feet left the ground she had shrieked, whether in excitement or fear she couldn't remember, because now all she could think about is that she was _flying_. Dark laughed, the wings beating harder, the air getting a little colder as they flew into wind thermals. Since Ilandere wasn't screaming Dark chanced a look downwards and frowned.

Where they had just been there was a rather tall man. He had lavender colored hair and dark could see, even from this distance, that only one of the man's eyes were open. He was jumping around, as if he was having a fit and his mouth was moving rapidly, but Dark couldn't hear him saying anything. Ilandere tugged on a lock of his hair, raising an eyebrow when he finally turned to look at her.

"Aren't you supposed to watch the road when you drive, er, fly? Oh, did you see another Bishounen back there?" Ilandere asked, trying to peer around the flapping black wings and see the ground. Dark angled himself so Ilandere couldn't see the road, though subtlety so she wouldn't get annoyed and then shook his head.

"Nah, there was nothing there, I guess I'm just paranoid." Dark laughed and relaxed as Ilandere let the subject drop, happy with flying. The map in Ilandere's hands was suddenly ripped away by a strong gust of wind, to which she let out a startled 'oh!' Dark shot up after it and then slowed when it started falling.

"Come on, Dere, catch it, my hands are full of woman!" Ilandere rolled her eyes and reached up her hand, snatching the map out of the air and then shivering.

"Could we go down a little? It's kind of cold up here." Ilandere murmured, shoving the map under her belt and circling Dark's neck with her other arm, so as not to shift his balance. Dark nodded, and flew down lower, just above the tree tops, scaring a flock of birds into flying. Ilandere laughed again, shaking her head and then looking at Dark curiously.

"Mind if I ask you a sort of personal question?" Ilandere asked, glancing from Dark's face to the rapidly passing trees. Dark laughed whole heartedly, pleased with the phrasing.

"Of course not! Ask away." He winked at her, which made Ilandere roll her eyes at him and then take on a serious look.

"I was just wondering why you decided you wanted to be captured. I'm sure all trainers will ask their first Bishounen that." Ilandere shrugged as Dark flew to the side of a high tree and then resumed his course, squinting his eyes as the wind blew into them strongly.

"I need goggles," he murmured and then answered her. "Didn't I make that clear earlier? I wanted the perfect girl!" Dark grinned and then nodded his head in the forward direction.

"I think I see a town coming up." Ilandere smiled back and squeezed his neck a little, she had figured she wouldn't get a real answer out of Dark, she'd have to ask Daisuke. Ilandere tugged on a lock of Dark's hair again, smiling politely.

"Do you think we could walk the rest of the way? I don't want to tire little Wiz out." As soon as the words fell from her lips Dark started to lower down, or rather, Wiz made him. Dark sighed as his feet lighted on the ground and frowned as he set down Ilandere. Ilandere straightened her jacket and then turned to find that Dark had turned into Daisuke and Wiz was sitting on his shoulder. Ilandere smiled again and clapped her hands.

"You look so cute!" Ilandere couldn't help but laugh as Daisuke blushed and murmured a 'thank you'. The two began walking towards the direction of the road. Ilandere glanced around her and noticed that the trees were sparser here and didn't create as much shade.

"So, how old are you, Daisuke? I mean, in the series you were fourteen, but... Well, you don't look fourteen." Ilandere explained, reaching up to scratch Wiz's chin again. The rabbit creature squeaked in appreciation, rubbing against her hand like a cat. Daisuke nodded, agreeing that he was older.

"Well, Bishounen don't have exact ages, I don't think. I mean, I know I'm at least as old as you are, but I might be older, not by much, probably a year or two." Daisuke shrugged, rubbing the back of his head as if he was worried she would be annoyed. Ilandere looked ahead of them and could barely spot the stone walls of the next city in the distance.

"No problem, just a thought. Anyway, let's see how far Wiz got us." Ilandere pulled the map from her Bish-belt and unrolled it, her eyebrows furrowing together. She had thought the map was simple paper and had been wondering how useful it would be if the world kept expanding, but the paper was blank. For a moment Ilandere stared at it in amazement, her mouth hanging open. Daisuke came over to stand beside her and then made her jump when he touched her shoulder.

"Ah, sorry, Ilandere! Um, I think this wire here connects to your Dex." Daisuke pointed to a little wire that was barely visible on the top right hand corner. Ilandere pulled out her Dex and had Daisuke hold the blank paper, hooking up the wire to the Dex. The Dex beeped and then the paper rolled into a tiny tube and disappeared into the Dex. Ilandere stared at her Dex in astonishment, her eyebrows raised.

"Geez! Well that was n-" The Dex interrupted her with another beep and then spoke.

**Map feature added. Started at Emren City, approaching Zion Town. **Ilandere blinked and then tilted her head, the word 'Zion' sounded familiar.

"Zion?" She murmured and then the Dex beeped again.

**Zion Town. The area surrounding the SW entrance of Zion Town imitates the Pilot Candidate or **

**Candidate for Goddess anime.** Ilandere laughed then and smiled at Daisuke.

"I knew I had heard of Zion before. In my world, the same person who created you and yours, created Pilot Candidate. I was a big fan of his work." Ilandere watched Daisuke's eyes widen with an internal smile, Wiz made a small sound so Ilandere reached over and gently tugged on the rabbit creatures ear.

"Really? Is that why you were okay with me being your Bishounen?" Daisuke asked, truly interested as Ilandere closed the Dex and slipped it back into her pocket. Ilandere smiled again and nodded her head.

"One of the reasons, anyway. I didn't mind saving you from the valley girl either. Okay, off to Zion Town!" Ilandere began walking, Daisuke close behind, looking thoughtful, Wiz curled around Daisuke's shoulders and fell asleep. As they approached Zion Town, Ilandere could see that what she had thought were stone walls were actually made out of some sort of grey metal, like the G.O.A. ships in the anime, she hurried a little, curious, so Daisuke had to lengthen his stride a little to keep up.

"How many series did that creator make?" Daisuke asked after a few minutes, the walls of Zion Town much closer. Ilandere tilted her head as she skipped and then resumed walking.

"Uh, I believe before I left it was seven. She hadn't finished your series, Pilot Candidate or Rizelmine. People were saying that she probably won't finish them, but I always hoped that wasn't the case since she was one of my favorites." Ilandere shrugged and Daisuke looked confused.

"Why didn't she finish them?" He asked seriously, tilting his head away from Wiz's fuzzy ear. Ilandere sighed and shook her head.

"No one really knows, maybe she lost interest in them or has writers block." This seemed to leave a sour taste in Ilandere's mouth, her face crinkled.

"Writers block is evil." She told him seriously, which made Daisuke laugh. Ilandere blinked in surprise, she had never seen Daisuke _really_ laugh.

"Ah, don't think I'm laughing _at_ you, it was just the way you said it." He explained, reverting to his embarrassed face. Ilandere shook her head, showing that it was okay.

"No, it's fine. So what should we base our adventure on?" Ilandere asked, turning to look at Daisuke. Suddenly a strong wind snapped up, blowing Ilandere's dark hair into her face. She scrunched her eyes shut, pushing the hair out of her face, looking up at Daisuke when he grabbed onto her arm, his eyebrows drawn together as he stared at the Zion Town gates.

"What is it?" Ilandere asked, turning to look. Her eyes widened and she took a step back towards Daisuke. He looked down at her, frowning.

"You said you've seen the... uh, Pilot Candidate series. What are _those_?" Ilandere's eyes turned back to the gate and she cringed and looked up at Daisuke as if she were in trouble.

"Those are the monsters in Pilot Candidate, Victim." Somebody from behind the gate let out a roar of rage as the Victim attacked.

---

The half-bishounen had watched them fly away, stamping his feet and muttering to himself. He had been about to tell them the... the words. The _prophecy_. He supposed it didn't matter, after all, they were only two people, a trainer and a Bishounen. No, it would be much more important for him to be able to tell a town official, somebody who liked to talk, someone _big_. He began walking down the road, the sun traveling further through the sky. The next city was far away, he wouldn't get there before the dark fell, but it didn't bother him, at least, not much. He wasn't used to being in the sun, it was bright and hurt his eye. He was more used to the darkness of his cave and the twitches and tickles of people coming into the Bish-world. The tickles had faded, he still felt them, but only in his subconscious, somewhere deep inside. Now, what was more important was the poem, no, words. The words and the word that named them together.

_Prophecy_. It was hard for him to remember the word, harder still for him to say it, he wasn't used to speaking, no, not at all. He hadn't spoke much since his Chibi stage and he was a Sama, his tongue was cumbersome and the words still tangled him up, except for _those_ words. The group of words, all together. The half-bishounen grumbled to himself, pulling at his sleeves, his long hair.

"Words," He muttered. "Have to remember the words, group of words." He was mad, and he knew it, he knew that his words didn't make sense, but he had to _make_ them, make sense. To someone, anyone. A town official, a talker, someone _big_. The half-bishounen screamed in his madness and then went on walking as if nothing had happened. He pulled at his hair, walking along the road, but not in a straight line, darting in and out of the trees shade if he saw a shadow move, a cloud pass over the sun.

"Darkness, want it night. Ahhhh, sun." He growled, trying to hold onto the words, the momentary sanity when he said them. The half-bishounen began muttering the words to himself again, trying to make them, make sense.

---

The hold on Ilandere's shoulder grew tighter as her Bishounen watched the Victim attack Zion Town. He was nervous, so much that she could feel it, which didn't help, because she was nervous too. Ilandere tried to take a calming breath, wondering what they should do, after all, she was trainer, wasn't she? Daisuke looked down at her when she shivered, closing her eyes tightly.

"Professor Lana didn't tell you that there were monster options in this world now?" Daisuke asked, to which Ilandere shook her head.

"No, _she_ didn't tell me, but I overhead one of the shop-keepers in BISH-MART talking about it. They said that there were still some glitches though and more often than not now, the monsters would appear even to Trainer's who didn't have the chip or whatever it is. But what bothers me is that I thought they said it only happened out in forests and empty places." Ilandere jumped when a rumble went through her feet from the earth. Daisuke clutched onto her shoulder a little harder.

"What do you think that is?" He yelled above the rumble. Wiz had woken just before the earth started shaking and was curled around Daisuke's neck protectively. For a moment Ilandere was going to shake her head, but then she saw a shadow in the sky. She laughed triumphantly and pointed upwards.

"Ingrid's!" She shouted and within moments the Victim were gone, defeated by trainer's Pilot Candidate Bishounen. When the Ingrids had disappeared and Victim fizzled into nothing, Ilandere smiled up at Daisuke, who's eyes were huge.

"_Those_ are Pilot Candidate Bishounen?" He asked, shocked, but Ilandere shook her head.

"No silly, those are the Ingrids, the Goddess machines of the Pilot Candidate Bishounen. It's like Evangelion, sort of." Ilandere explained, slowly pulling Daisuke towards Zion Town. He shot her a worried look.

"Are we sure we want to go there now? I mean, what if those, uh, Victim, attack when we get there again? Or when we leave?" Daisuke firmly planted his feet and Ilandere sighed.

"Come on scaredy cat, you have Thief powers, which means you're a quick Bishounen and you also have Wiz, he could fly us out of there, right?" Daisuke seemed to think about it, not noticing that Ilandere was slowly moving towards Zion Town. Eventually he sighed and nodded his head, giving up and letting her pull them to the gates. Two guards, who looked rather startled still stood at attention.

"Sorry ma'am, we'll have to ask to see your Dex please." Ilandere, proud that she had a Dex now, pulled out the little contraption and handed it to one of the guards, who quickly looked up her Trainer information and then let her inside. Daisuke relaxed once they were inside and let Ilandere drag him around to look into shops and exclaim over new technology. They after at a restaurant but after a while Ilandere was getting tired.

"We should find some sort of Inn and stay here for tonight. Would that be okay?" She asked. Daisuke agreed, holding Wiz in his arms now. Few people were really talkative in Zion Town, which Ilandere found odd, but was satisfied when they found a room with two beds, at a new trainer price. "We should find some sort of Inn and stay here for tonight. Would that be okay?" She asked. Daisuke agreed, holding Wiz in his arms now. Few people were really talkative in Zion Town, which Ilandere found odd, but was satisfied when they found a room with two beds, at a new trainer price. Ilandere set down her things and laid down on the bed, letting out a deep breath and smiling as she stretched a little.

"I'm gonna be sore tomorrow, I just know it." Ilandere murmured, slipping off her shoes as Daisuke sat on his bed. Wiz made his strange little sounds and jumped onto Daisuke's pillow, curling up on it. Ilandere sat up after a moment, rolling her shoulders and looked over to Daisuke.

"So what do you think of me? Just, as your trainer and everything, so far anyway." Ilandere asked. Daisuke looked a little uncomfortable, shrugging slightly.

"Uh, well, you're really nice and a lot better than that, um, valley girl would have been. And you're not someone crazy who keeps their Bishie inside of a Bish-ball all the time." Daisuke still appeared uncomfortable, so Ilandere just smiled and accepted it, grabbing the capsule case from her bag, opening it and selecting the closet capsule. She threw it down and jumped back as it sprang up. Ilandere frowned a little as she dug through the contents and finally pulled out some pajamas that were a tad too big. She sighed, but it would have to do.

"Just a second, going to change." Ilandere went into the bathroom and closed the door, it only took her a minute before she came back out and put the clothes she had been wearing into the closet and then turned it back into a capsule. She laughed, delighted and smiled at Daisuke.

"Those things are just awesome. Aw, I'll probably need to buy you some clothes, huh? We'll do that tomorrow." Daisuke blinked and then agreed as Ilandere got into her bed. She smiled at him and then covered a yawn.

"You can take a shower or stay up, whatever you'd like." She murmured, yawning again and burying her face in the pillow.

"Okay, I'll uh, take a shower then." Daisuke told her, opening the bathroom door.

"G'night Daisuke, thanks for being my Bishounen." Ilandere said sleepily. Daisuke stopped and turned to say goodnight back, but Ilandere never heard it, she had fallen asleep.

**Authors Notes:** Some stuff about the first chapter: I have never been to an Internet Cafe, so I really don't know what one is like, though that was how I imagined it to be, just to let you know. I live in a small town (just like Ilandere did, but unlike her, I never dreampt of moving to a big city, I'm happy where I am.) Okay, done with chapter one stuff. Yes, I'm a Yukiru Sugisaki fan (though many people don't like Pilot Candidate) and I couldn't help but add some stuff about her works in there. And my little half-bishie prophet, what do you think of him? Who exactly he's a half-bishie of I'll reveal later on, so for now I'll have to leave you guessing.

ParallaxRider: Thanks, glad you like it, and I'll be sure to check out your stories. :) Characters? Like anime characters or trainers? (Which reminds me, would anyone like to be in this? Most will be small parts, but I wouldn't have any problem doing things like that.)

PeaceLoveOcelot: Ah, you flatter me, really! Thank you for the sweet review. There will be more, in my profile I have some details about how I'm writing it. And Ilandere? I was searching through my cousin's Baby name book and came across it, Ilandere means 'Moon' supposedly and I thought it was pretty.

AyameKitsune: Thanks for the favorite! You can review too if you'd like, I'd like that.

Okay, thats all, working on the next chapter soon! Review please!


	3. A Memory in 'Twain

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the anime/manga/game/book characters in this fanfic, save for Ilandere and Ruby, they belong solely to me.**

_**Bloodstone's in Her Hair: A Bishounen World Prophecy**_

'Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild With a faery hand in hand, For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand...

He comes, the human child! To the waters and the wild With a faery hand in hand, From a world more full of weeping than he can understand.' - W.B. Yeats "The Stolen Child"

_**Chapter Three: A Memory in 'Twain**_

Ilandere and her Bishounen, Daisuke Niwa and Dark Mousy, had stayed within Zion Town for two days. Most of the time had been spent with Daisuke, because he was the dominant psyche in his body, but every now and then Dark would appear, startling Ilandere or making fangirls scream. After the first time of having girls pile on top of Dark and also ending up on top of Ilandere, the rabbit creature Wiz, who was Daisuke's pet and Dark's wings came with them when ever they came out. Ilandere had quickly realized that Dark was a rarely seen Bishounen because of all the fangirls and had made good use of Wiz as their get-away option. The rabbit creature hadn't seemed to mind, Ilandere ended up spoiling it rotten anyway, so it did just about anything for her. Though the two days in Zion Town had been over all fun and... interesting, Ilandere felt crowded. The people weren't exactly friendly here, everyone always seemed to be in a hurry, but Ilandere didn't take it personally. She had figured that it was because of the rampant Victim attacks and had sympathized with the inhabitants of Zion Town.

"I would be crabby all the time if space monsters were constantly attacking my home," she remarked to Dark one day, who had complained about the way a pretty young Bishoujo had treated him in the store. Besides the crabbiness of people and the attacks from the monsters, Victim, Ilandere enjoyed herself. The town was modeled after a G.O.A. institute, save that instead of a metal roof like a G.O.A. ship would have had, Zion Town was covered by a huge see-through bubble. The only things not protected by the bubble were the guard walls and gates, fashioned with the strange grey metal that wasn't made of anything Ilandere had ever seen on Earth. What would have been the third day of them staying in Zion Town, Ilandere found herself at the front counter of the Inn in which they had bunked, paying her bill and trying to make conversation with the desk woman, who was flatly refusing to speak. Ilandere turned away and sighed with relief after the woman had handed her a receipt and found Daisuke and Wiz sitting in one of the lobby chairs with her pack. Ilandere picked it up, shouldered it and nodded towards the door, giving Daisuke a tired smile. Unlike a few trainers, Ilandere was prone to sleeping late, and as it turned out Daisuke and his counter-part Dark, both, loved to sleep in as well, which suited the trainer and her double personality Bishounen well. Ilandere wondered sometimes about if she captured a Bishounen or Bishoujo that was an early-bird and found herself cringing at the thought, little Wiz was bad enough. The rabbit creature had taken to being her alarm clock. She had no problem waking up to feed him, or letting him out to fly around, but Wiz craved her attention and so was constantly making his cooing noises in her ears. Daisuke had apologized, Dark had laughed at her.

The trainer and Bishounen walked out onto the street, Ilandere firmly latched onto Daisuke's arm so as not to be separated, when Victim attacked the outer walls people panicked and Ilandere had been separated from Dark for two hours on the first day. _She_ had panicked even more than some of the people on the street. But Dark had been resourceful, Wiz had been with him and he had flown above the yelling people and found her quickly, just as the Victim finished their attack. Dark had swooped down and lighted before Ilandere, hugging the frightened trainer and trying to make a joke of the situation when the fangirls had rushed them and an uproar of annoyed fangirls had ensued when Dark had pulled a shocked Ilandere from the dog pile and had disappeared. It was not an experience Ilandere wished to repeat.

"Where should we head next, Daisuke?" Ilandere asked, pulling out her Dex and asking for the map section. Daisuke turned to her, taken aback that she had asked his opinion, Ilandere looked up and raised an eyebrow at his expression.

"Is something wrong?" Ilandere questioned, her hand unconsciously pulling in closer to her chest, so her Dex wouldn't be snatched out of her hand. Daisuke's lips made a small 'o' and he shook his head.

"No, nothing is wrong, I was just wondering why you were asking me." Ilandere frowned at his response, looking back down at the Dex for a second.

"Uh, well, I was asking you because you're my Bishounen and you have a choice in the matter, and it's important to me that you get a choice? Would you prefer I not ask?" Ilandere glanced back up at Daisuke, who quickly shook his head again, smiling uncertainly.

"No! I suppose it just doesn't matter to me where we go. This is your adventure after all." Daisuke replied. Wiz seemed to support his answer, making a small squeaking sound and peering over the top of Daisuke's head. Ilandere laughed and then shrugged, holding out the Dex again.

"Zion Town." She stated and the Dex whirred to life, the map coming up on the screen.

**Zion Town, the SW entrance imitates-** it began, but Ilandere stopped it before it spouted the information.

"Ah no. The South-West entrance imitates the anime, yes, we know. Where is the next town or city after Zion Town when leaving from the South-West entrance?" Wiz leaned over to sniff the Dex and hurriedly jumped back on Daisuke's head when it began speaking.

**The next town lies near the edges of the Cowboy Bebop territories, approximately 50 miles. This journey will be made over a process of five days if transportation is limited to walking. Using the G.O.A. transports of Zion Town it can be made in 30 minutes. Flying, using a flying-type Bishounen, will-** Ilandere stopped the Dex, shaking her head.

"Okay, okay, enough. What is the town's name?" Ilandere was pleased that the Dex gave them more than a tidbit of information, but it was like listening to a movie theater's machine, where they list every single movie and save the one you want to hear about for last. She could only stand it for so long.

**The name of the closest town to Zion Town, near the edges of the Cowboy Bebop territories is called Space Lion after the-** Ilandere interrupted it this time by closing the Dex, shaking her head. Daisuke was smiling at her politely, which meant that when Dark came out later he would be teasing her about it.

"Well then, would you mind going to Space Lion?" Ilandere asked Daisuke in a teasing voice, winking at him. Daisuke laughed softly and nodded his head.

"Where ever you'd like to go is fine with me." Ilandere rolled her eyes, even though she was laughing, gently leading Daisuke to the South-West entrance. Since there hadn't been any Victim attacks the town people seemed suspicious of any shadow over the sunlight, but didn't seem to have any problem with people leaving. Ilandere and Daisuke made their way through the crowded streets, slowly approaching the G.O.A. transports, where Ilandere had heard a few free Candidate for Goddess Bishounen frequently hung around. Though Ilandere had set her mind on catching one, she worried about it. Some trainers treated their Bishounen and Bishoujo like pets, keeping them in their Bish-balls all the time or setting silly rules, such as 'win a battle and you get to eat'. Ilandere didn't think for a moment that she would ever turn out like that, but she wondered about other trainers. The second day they stayed in Zion Town the trainer and her Bishounen had visited the small gym and come across another trainer who was... exhausted. The girl, obviously at one point an _extreme_ fangirl, hadn't limited herself. She had caught every Bishie she came across, for the simple sake of saying she had him or her. The girl, not unkind, had rarely ever put her Bishie's into Bish-balls and had constantly been turned around trying to pay attention to her Bishies, who, when counted by Ilandere came out to about 23. It was like a teacher living with her grade school class, Ilandere had thought, or a cat with too many kittens. Some of the Bishounen were unhappy because the girl never got around to paying attention to them, but they _wanted_ to stay with her. Ilandere shivered, she didn't want to turn out like that either. Daisuke had been appalled and had, for once, been blunt about saying he hoped Ilandere never did that. When Dark had came out he too had commented on the situation, though of course he had made a joke of it.

"I'm a high-maintenance Bishie, Dere, you better give me a lot of attention." Ilandere had proceeded to assure both Daisuke and Dark she refused to do that, though she had joked back with Dark about it.

"Don't worry Dark, twenty-two is my limit. Two hours of sleep and then an hour of attention for each Bishie." Though when thinking about the complications of such a thing happening Ilandere had gotten a headache. She had found herself sadly hoping the girl would let a few of them go, instead of leaving altogether like she had told Ilandere she was thinking about.

"Are these the transports, Ilandere?" Daisuke asked his trainer, breaking her from her reverie. Ilandere blinked a few times and then looked up and up and up. She clapped her hands and began walking again, a big smile on her face.

"Yes! Oh, yeah, these are the transports, sorry, I just can't wait to ride one!" Ilandere explained, getting in line. Wiz made his own sound of awe and the young man ahead of them, wearing a heavy cloak, shot them a sharp glare. Ilandere's smile slowly faded as she stared at the young man, her head tilted to the side as she thought. Daisuke frowned, looking down at his trainer.

"Ilandere is something the matter?" Wiz once again had to have his say, imitating the pitch of Daisuke's voice, making it appear as if he too had asked a question. The young man turned his head again, his eyes narrowing in annoyance and Ilandere sucked in a sharp breath, her face reddening with excitement. The young man wasn't really paying attention to them, he seemed impatient to get onto the G.O.A. transports. Ilandere smiled up at her Bishie.

"I _knew_ I saw those green eyes. Just a second." Ilandere slowly unhooked her arm from Daisuke's, unclipping a Bish-ball from her belt and hiding her right arm behind her back. Cautiously she reached out and tapped on the cloaked shoulder. The young man turned around, an angry look on his face.

"**What**?" he asked. Ilandere smiled, which seemed to make him calm just a fraction.

"I'm awfully sorry," Ilandere began, quickly whipping her right arm around her body and tapping the guy on the chest with the Bish-ball. The Bishounen disappeared in a flash of red light and Ilandere turned the Bish-ball around to look at it. "But I caught you." The line began moving and Daisuke hurriedly latched onto his trainers arm, slightly startled from her actions.

"You're sneaky!" Daisuke told her, staring at the Bish-ball, an apprehensive look on his face. Ilandere laughed guiltily, her eyebrows furrowing together in concern as she hooked it to her belt, coming up to the entrance of the G.O.A. transport. The man standing at the door shooed them inside and Ilandere's eyebrows raised as they followed the group of people into a cafeteria type area.

"I thought for sure we would have to pay, anyway." Ilandere pulled out her Dex and flipped it open while Daisuke and Wiz leaned in close to hear whom she had caught.

**Property of Ilandere, age: 17, status: Novice Trainer, Bishounen/Bishoujo status: Two, Daisuke/Dark Niwa, stage: Sama; Gareas Elidd, stage: San. Gareas is an Ingrid pilot in the series "The Candidate for Goddess", he is second in piloting only to Zeela Tain Elmes. His Ingrid is Eeva-Leena.** Ilandere flipped the Dex shut and then unclipped the Bish-ball from her belt, sighing softly.

"For some reason I have the feeling he's going to be angry with me." Ilandere muttered, sitting at one of the cafeteria tables and readying herself to let Gareas out. Daisuke gave her an encouraging smile, placing his hand on her shoulder to support her. Ilandere smiled up at him and shrugged, 'oh well', she seemed to say.

"I still feel stupid saying this, come out, Gareas!" With a red flash the green eyed, green haired Bishie came out of his ball, arms crossed and eyebrow raised, on the verge of yelling, but not quite there yet.

"_How_ did you know I was a free Bishounen?" He asked softly, his booted foot tapping. Ilandere smiled sheepishly.

"You were dressed in a cloak first of all, and I would think, especially in Zion Town with all of the attacks, that any trainer would have a hold of their Bishie. I wouldn't have even thought of catching you, I wouldn't have known, but you turned around and I saw your eyes and your earring. It's unique." She explained, Daisuke blinked, looking down at his trainer, who seemed to have gained back her confidence and then looked to his fellow Bishie who looked surprised. Gareas was about to open his mouth when Ilandere spoke again.

"If you wanted to blend in I would have suggested you wear some sort of wig, like dark brown or something and some jeans and human clothes, you would have been all but invisible." This time when Daisuke looked down at his trainer he wondered how she knew so much about disguises. Gareas's face had lost the cast of anger, but he still didn't look particularly pleased.

"How did you catch me? I didn't even see it coming and you must have been pretty damn quick to get that past me, I'm an Ingrid pilot, you know." Gareas was still tapping his foot, watching his new trainer closely. Ilandere's sheepish smile didn't fade.

"Good ole trickery. I tapped you with my left hand, hid a Bish-ball in my right hand because I'm right handed and smiled as I tapped you with the Bish-ball. It works on any male, though I'm not into repeating tricks." Daisuke was now watching her with his mouth open and heard Dark say something in the back of his head.

_It's too bad we can't use her to steal anything! Man, she would have been a big help!_ Daisuke stuck his finger in his ear to silence his counter-part, trying to concentrate on Ilandere and Gareas.

"It doesn't matter if a girl is pretty or ugly, though it helps if she's shorter, guys are distracted by words and a smile, then they look over the rest of the body. I caught you before you could think to move your eyes from my face, because I was speaking." Gareas almost looked impressed, Daisuke was astonished and Wiz made a happy noise as he jumped onto Ilandere's lap, tilting up his head for a neck scratching.

"Okay, you've answered the how, but why? Didn't you think maybe I had to _do_ something?" The skin around Gareas's eyes stretched a little, he was getting angry again.

"I'm sorry, but are you kidding? I may not have glomped you and I caught you in an odd way, but I'm a _fangirl_. Catch the Bishie first, then consider the consequences." Daisuke felt a little better with those words, but he resolved to ask his trainer more about her life in her home world. Gareas had sat down and Ilandere had pulled out a chair next to her for Daisuke, patting it to get his attention and giving him a quick smile before turning to watch Gareas. With a loud creak the ship began moving in the direction of Space Lion.

"Well, I guess I'm stuck with you, for now. What's your name?" Gareas lounged in his chair, his arms crossed against his chest, looking away from Ilandere.

"I'm Ilandere and this is my first Bishounen, Daisuke Niwa. Oh and this is Wiz. Daisuke, Wiz, this is Gareas Elidd." Ilandere stroked the rabbit creature, who purred in response and then settled down to sleep in her lap. Daisuke gave a small wave to Gareas, but Gareas merely grunted before looking away again. Ilandere barely kept herself from sighing. She had weighed the advantages and disadvantages in her mind for about a split second before she caught Gareas. Like she had said, she was a fangirl and she had the opportunity to capture Bishounen and Bishoujo, fangirls would _always_ capture first and ask the questions later. She didn't think she would regret it, after all, once Gareas was a friend to someone, he was a _good_ friend, the type to stick by someone through thick and thin. She cringed a little, thinking about the anime series and then pushed the thought away, covering her mouth and yawning a little, smiling at the Bishie who liked her.

"Are either of you hungry? I have enough money for about another three days before we have to work or battle to get some." Ilandere slowly slipped her hands under Wiz, picking up the sleeping creature and curled him around Daisuke's neck. Wiz's only movement was his little rising and falling chest as he breathed deeply. After a moment Daisuke nodded, but Gareas hadn't answered.

"Gareas?" Ilandere asked, putting a little more force into her voice. The Ingrid pilot turned around, his eyes half lidded, like he wasn't really listening. Ilandere couldn't help but huff slightly.

"Would you like anything to eat?" Her newest Bishounen looked like he was about to say no, but thought better of it and nodded his head, leaning his elbow on the table. Ilandere stood, satisfied that she had gotten an answer out of him.

"What would you guys like?" She asked, taking a half step before turning back to them. Daisuke shrugged, while Gareas responded with an 'I don't care'. Ilandere rolled her eyes as she walked the ten feet to where they could order food and looked over the selections. After a moment she looked up at the man behind the counter and smiled at him.

"Could I have three and a half breakfast burritos please?" The man murmured his agreement and then stopped, not sure he heard right.

"Three an' a half, miss?" Ilandere smiled and held up three fingers and a bent pinky. The man laughed and got her order ready, returning after a moment with the tray of food. Ilandere paid him and then carried the tray back to the table, weaving around a few tables. Daisuke looked uncomfortable and Gareas appeared annoyed when she got back, sitting down in her seat.

"What's the matter?" Ilandere asked Gareas sharply, wondering if he had been rude to Daisuke. The green haired Bishie shook his head, rolling his eyes and Daisuke laughed softly, but it was clear to Ilandere that something had been said. She distributed the burritos and wrapped some of the wax paper from hers around the half, setting it to the side as she pulled out her capsule case and selected a small ice chest capsule. It poofed and opened, so she put the half burrito in the ice chest and then put it back in the capsule, returning the case to her bag. Gareas looked at her strangely.

"What are you doing?" He asked as he finished a bite of his food. Ilandere smiled and pointed to Wiz.

"He has to eat too eventually and seeing as he's sleeping I don't want to waste his food." Ilandere then began to eat, hurrying when an announcer voice told them they would be at the town Space Lion in about five minutes.

---

Sometime after they had gotten off of the G.O.A. transport and began to head towards Space Lion, which was actually an itty bitty town, twenty minutes away from the G.O.A landing pads, Ilandere had looked up, expecting to speak with Daisuke and had found Dark staring down at her. She had jumped and let out a small yelp, while Gareas had pulled Ilandere away from Dark and threatened the Bishie. It had taken Ilandere a little while to calm Gareas down, he had ranted about how she should of told him and Ilandere had to agree to that, while Dark had pouted, saying that Ilandere made him feel ugly. She had spent the rest of the time assuring Dark he was as beautiful as could be. Only one other group had gotten off of the G.O.A. transport, but Ilandere and her Bishounen hadn't paid attention, intent on getting to Space Lion. Ilandere's eyes had widened when they had stopped on top of a small hill to look down at Space Lion. When she had thought small, she hadn't thought ten buildings, but that was all that Space Lion consisted of. It might have been because not many people stopped near the Cowboy Bebop territories from the direction Ilandere and her Bishounen had taken, not many people went to Zion Town much either though. The main street, in fact, the _only_ street of Space Lion was wide and pretty, like an upper class spaceship, because it had a technology feeling. Ilandere wondered where they got the money to keep it so clean if not many people came by this way, but had forgotten about it when they had stopped inside of a music shop. Ilandere had browsed for a while, giving her Bishounen a guilty smile when she had bought a couple cds and then asked if they would like anything. Both Dark and Gareas had refused, though they both wanted to look at the weapons shop across the street. While Ilandere let her Bishies browse some of the more exotic weapons she had come a cross a display of a bow and arrow set. The shop keeper had asked her if she would like to try it and she had happily accepted. Gareas and Dark, who had a sneaky look on his face, had both come back over to see her try the bow in the little practice area in the back of the store. The man began to explain how she would use it when Ilandere stopped him.

"Don't worry, I know how, I did this for fun in my own world." Ilandere had became embarrassed when she had knocked the arrow to the string, it was the one thing she was slow at when handling the weapon, but afterwards had pulled the arrow back, sighted along her arm and shot at the target the shopkeeper had set up. Where she didn't hit the very middle of the target, Ilandere had gotten the second ring around it and had happily stretched her arms, handing the bow back to the shopkeeper as they prepared to leave, she didn't have enough money to buy anything in the shop.

"I haven't been able to practice with a bow and arrow set since I was fourteen! The school I went to in L.A. was sadly void of any archery programs." Ilandere laughed as they left, walking back out onto the street. Since they had already ate and Wiz had woken up, Ilandere and her Bishounen sat down at a table outside of a shop and she had retrieved the breakfast burrito from the ice chest and gave it to Wiz, who didn't seem to care if his food was warm or icy.

"Well, this was kind of a disappointment." She murmured as she watched Wiz eat his food. Dark had hastily agreed, which made Ilandere look at him weirdly, but she was stopped from questioning him when Gareas laughed.

"Did you know anything about Space Lion when you decided to head here?" He asked, raising her eyebrows as he gave her a haughty look. Ilandere frowned and pulled out her Dex, waving it at him.

"Of course I knew _something_ about Space Lion! It told me it was the closest to Zion Town, around 50 miles away or something like that." Gareas had shook his head, watching his trainer.

"Don't you have a tourist guide to the Bish-world in there? Most people do." Ilandere frowned at him again and opened the Dex.

"Do I have a tourist guide to the Bish-world?" The Dex blinked on and a catchy little tune played.

**Tourist Guide to the Bish-world! Name your destination!** The Dex, instead of speaking in a computerized voice, had taken on something akin to an announcer.

"Space Lion." Ilandere stated and a picture of the little town came onto the screen.

**While 'Space Lion' may sound like an interesting name for a town, the area around Space Lion isn't frequently traveled, so the town is very small. It consists of attractions such as-** Ilandere sighed as she shut the Dex and pushed it back into her pocket, looking up at Gareas. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Dark, moving something from hand to hand and turned sharply to see what her Bishie was doing. Dark had sat on his hands.

"_What_, may I ask, are you doing?" Ilandere asked Dark, who attempted an innocent look, trying to give her a charming smile.

"Why nothing, trainer mine who has eyes that glimmer like sta-" Ilandere grabbed his arms and yanked them out from under his thighs, her jaw dropping in astonishment as she looked up at her Bishounen.

"Dark!" She screeched, with a mothers tone, pointing to his right hand and trying to pry his fingers open from whatever he was holding. It took her a minute, Dark was going to resist, but figured he would get in more trouble that way, so he opened his hand, revealing an ornate blade as big as Ilandere's thumb.

"You call that nothing?" Ilandere asked him, snatching it out of his open palm and standing up, frowning at him. Gareas began laughing and got up to join his trainer.

"I didn't think you'd notice, you have quick reflexes and good eyes." Gareas told her and then jumped when she thumped him on the chest.

"You-you male! You knew he had stolen it? Oh, yeah, you're so high and mighty and perfect." Ilandere turned away and stomped back towards the store, both her Bishies following on her heels. While Gareas was only slightly annoyed that Ilandere had yelled at him, Dark felt bad and was trying to apologize to his trainer, Wiz figure eight-ing around his legs like a cat and tripping him up. Ilandere opened the door to the weapons shop, ignoring the young blond woman and her Bishoujo standing at the counter and stuck her arm out towards the shopkeeper, holding out the small blade.

"I've come to return _this_, because my thief Bishounen is a-a thief!" The shopkeeper took the blade and nodded, but gave Ilandere a smile.

"Oh, don't worry, you returned it and I can see you're angry, so I'm not blaming you. No harm done." The man told her, walking away to put the blade back in its rightful place. Dark had stayed in the doorway, Gareas just inside, rolling his eyes. Ilandere opened her mouth to say something else to Dark when the young blond woman spoke to her.

"Sis?" She said and Ilandere spun around, her face going slack with shock. The blond, a thirteen year old girl, with Shampoo from Ranma 1/2 standing behind her, gave Ilandere a big smile. Ilandere's eyes rapidly went over the girls face. The pale blue eyes, freckled nose and stick skinny body, that was taller than her, were all absolutely familiar. Ilandere passed out.

---

"So Sis has been here for three days?" Ilandere heard a young girl's voice say as she sat up, rubbing her head. She blinked and then rubbed her eyes, turning her head to see Gareas sitting beside her and searching for Dark, who had been cradling her head in his lap. Finally Ilandere's eyes came to rest of her little sister, Ruby. With a loud cry she threw herself at her, the closest she'd come to glomping _anything_ since she'd got here and then kissed her little sister on the cheek, smiling widely.

"Ruby! I can't believe you're here, how long? Did you get an e-mail too?" Ilandere asked the young woman, tilting her head up and down, checking the girl for injuries. Dark, thinking that she might have forgotten about him stealing the blade relaxed and rolled his shoulders. Wiz had taken Ilandere's spot on Dark's lap and was watching the excitement between the two girls. Ruby laughed and gently but firmly pushed her sisters hands away.

"Yes, yes, I got an e-mail, I think it was a day after you left or something. I got here two days ago at Zion Town during one of the Victim attacks." Shampoo was sitting beside her trainer, narrowed eyes watching the two Bishounen. Ilandere smiled and then caught sight of Shampoo, shaking her head and looking back to Ruby. Ruby saw the look on her sisters face and stuck her tongue out at her, crossing her arms. Dark caught the look between the sisters.

"What is it, Dere?" He questioned, laying back on the ground and trying to act as if he wasn't watching her. Ilandere's glance to him was sharp, but it softened after a moment when she realized he was expressing simple interest.

"Ruby doesn't get along with a lot of guys. I'm not sure why-" Ruby interrupted her sister, rolling her blue eyes.

"It's because most of you are so annoying! I mean, there are some of you that are okay, like our brother." To this, Ilandere shook her head, mouthing to Gareas and Dark 'he spoils her because she's little'.

"And then there are some like... Like Miroku from Inu-Yasha! I hate womanizers!" Ruby huffed, her hands moving as she spoke even though she had her arms crossed. Ilandere immediate began laughing, tears springing to her eyes. Ruby turned to her sister, ready to argue her point, but then stopped and watched her older sister laugh. When Ilandere had finished, wiping her eyes she shot Dark a sly look before smiling widely at her sister. Gareas, realizing what was about to happen, tried to dampen his smile and sat back for the fun.

"What's so funny? You know all this already." Ilandere nodded and then stood up, brushing off her pants, then she reached down and grabbed Dark's arm, gently tugging him upwards.

"Want to battle, Ruby? You'll have the perfect target for your anger." Dark looked at his trainer with wide eyes, had he just heard what he thought he heard?

"_He_ is a womanizer, isn't he?" Ruby growled, standing up, Shampoo, who had been so busy glaring daggers at Gareas and Dark, realized that a battle was about to happen and jumped up happily. Ilandere smiled at Dark, patting his arm.

"Most of the time it's something for me to laugh at, I don't mind. But since today you _stole_ something from that store, and it wasn't even some priceless piece of art like you usually steal, it was a silly little blade, I figure you need to learn something somehow. I'm assuming Shampoo is an excellent fighter," at this the Bishoujo readily agreed and waited for her trainer to give her a signal. Ilandere shrugged and then waited for Dark to agree to the battle. Dark sighed, running a hand through his hair and stood in front of Ilandere.

"I hate fighting women," he murmured and then said loudly: "I give full consent to fight for my trainer until I am called back or knocked out." Gareas laughed and called out from the sidelines.

"Wooh, go, Dark." Dark shot his fellow Bishie an evil look and then waited for Shampoo to agree.

"Shampoo give full consent to fight for trainer, fight now?" Shampoo asked Ruby, who grinned and nodded her head. Shampoo moved into a fighting stance, while Dark just looked awkward, holding up his fists. Ilandere's eyebrows raised as she watched her Bishie.

"You womanizer, Shampoo's trainer no like womanizers." Shampoo stated. Dark just looked at her oddly, looking back to Ilandere, who simply shrugged, and then back to Shampoo, just as she kneed him in the stomach. Both Ruby and Ilandere jumped in surprise and Ilandere couldn't help but wince, biting her bottom lip, but just as she opened her mouth to say she was done, Dark was out of sight. Ilandere's jaw dropped and Shampoo looked around angrily for her opponent. Ilandere frowned and then looked up, simply seeing a blur that was Dark dive down on top of Shampoo. He knocked her to the ground and jumped away, the wings that were actually Wiz hurriedly flapping. For a moment Ilandere thought that Dark had actually knocked Shampoo out, but the young Chinese girl suddenly jumped up, whirling about and ducked when Dark aimed a punch at her face. Shampoo handsprung backwards and kneeled on the ground, eyeing Dark's wings.

"Wings no fair." Shampoo told them, somersaulting forward and then kicking out her foot, almost managing to knock Dark's legs out from under him. The wings held him up though, giving him definite leverage when he kicked back at her, landing one in the middle of Shampoo's back. Ilandere turned to speak with her sister, but Ruby looked excited, suddenly shouting.

"Come on, Shampoo! I know wings aren't fair but this will give you experience with winged opponents! If someone tries to spring it on us we'll be able to know the moves!" Ilandere rolled her eyes, sighing, she should have known her sister wouldn't care who lost or if it was fair. For a moment Ilandere found herself thinking of when she and her sister were little. Their brother, who was two years younger than Ilandere and two years older than Ruby had loved playing adventure games. The adventure would usually end up with Ruby and their brother wrestling and Ruby wouldn't car whether she lost or won, at least, not for a while. Once she memorized all of his moves and "techniques", that were incredibly pitiful, Ruby had been sure she would win. The only problem is that even though Ruby could now evade those moves, their brother still had the upper hand with brute strength and Ruby, always having been small and spindly, would lose hands down. Ilandere wondered why her younger sister hadn't learned to use speed to her best advantage, she was the best female runner on her junior high track team.

"This isn't going to last much longer, the girl is getting tired." Gareas murmured, making Ilandere jump, since he was suddenly at her elbow. He steadied her and narrowed his eyes, as if daring Ilandere to say something about it. Instead she turned her attention back to the battle.

"Shampoo no like wings!" The Chinese girl growled, dodging when Dark dived down to try and knock her off balance, clipping her shoulder. Ilandere looked up, watching Dark as he dived again, Shampoo watched him too and jumped backwards from the spot she thought he would dive to. Dark twisted mid-air and then shouldered little Shampoo right in the chest. She fell down, the breath knocked out of her and Ruby ran over to her, pulling a healing drink out of her bag.

"Dark won!" Ruby declared, Shampoo instantly getting up after finishing the drink. The places where bruises had been forming were gone. Dark landed and Wiz faded back into his rabbit creature self, making a questioning noise as he jumped onto Ilandere's shoulder, as if to ask 'did you see me?' Ilandere patted him gently and then turned to Dark, who looked extremely disappointed.

"What's wrong? You won." Ilandere laughed, gently touching his arm. Dark nodded, smiling at that, but then pointed at Shampoo.

"I had to hurt her though! You did know the perfect punishment for me." He told her, pouting. Ilandere rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to speak to him again when he changed back into Daisuke.

"Oww.." Daisuke complained, rubbing the spot where Shampoo had kneed Dark in the stomach earlier. Ilandere gasped and covered her mouth.

"Oh, Daisuke, I'm sorry. I got angry with Dark and I forgot that you'd get hurt too." Ilandere touched his arm in sympathy as Ruby and Shampoo walked over. Ruby looked at him oddly.

"Wow, Sis, I thought Dark won, why does he look so different?" She asked, paying her sister the money for the battle. Ilandere smiled and shook her head.

"This, Ruby, is Daisuke. Daisuke and Dark share the same body. Lately Dark seems to come out whenever he wants to and leaves at the same pace too. I don't think he wanted to listen to me yell at him anymore." She explained, slipping her arm through Daisuke's. Ruby nodded, looking the Bishounen up and down.

"Let me guess, I'll love this side of him, huh?" Ilandere laughed with her sister and then nodded to the hotel, the _only_ hotel, in Space Lion.

"Would you mind staying the night with us? Don't worry, my treat." Ilandere winked as they began walking towards the hotel. A few of the shopkeepers who had come out to watch the battle went back into their respective shops. Ruby nodded in agreement and Shampoo came over to look at Daisuke and then turned a frowning face to her trainer.

"He like Ranma and Shampoo? Change forms?" Shampoo asked and Ruby nodded and explained what little she knew to her Bishoujo. Once they had paid for adjoining rooms, Ruby had refused Ilandere's offer to treat her, they had settled down and ordered room service. While Daisuke haltingly spoke with Shampoo and Gareas took his requested shower, Ilandere and Ruby had retreated to the corner, sitting in chairs by the windows. The rooms were simple, but nice, like most hotel rooms. They had emerald green carpeting, and light, cream colored walls with a few framed pictures. The pictures were different though, showing detailed sketchings or photos of Cowboy Bebop ships. Ilandere looked out the window at the darkening sky and then back to her little sister.

"What was it like? Without me, I mean." Ilandere asked quietly, thinking of Professor Lana's explanation: 'they don't remember you, you don't exist anymore'. When asked that question Ruby became quiet, thinking over her answer. Her voice was soft when she responded, unsure.

"It was like... All the memories I had of you, they were just... gone. I remember the day before, I knew all about my big sister and her collection of anime things and then... The next... I didn't have a big sister, all I had was a big brother. Mom and dad didn't remember you either. It was really as if you had disappeared off the face of the earth. Which, now that I think about it, you had." Ruby sighed, pulling her silvery blond hair out of its ponytail, still staring at the window.

"And I suppose it wasn't bad without you, at least, it didn't feel any better or worse, but maybe that was because it was like you had never existed. But somewhere inside me, it was like I knew there was something different about our family. Then, you know how mom used to have problems? When she was depressed all the time and cried a lot and... You remember don't you? You were the only one who knew what to say to make it better." Ilandere nodded in responded, visibly wincing, though the only one to notice was Daisuke. Ruby leaned back in her chair, putting her bare feet on the wall, Ilandere glanced pointedly at them, but Ruby's eyes were focused on a bird outside the window.

"Now that I think about it, without you there, mom never got better. It was like she was still depressed the moment you left, like she could _feel_ that a part of her was gone." Ruby shook her head and spread her hands helplessly.

"I wonder if we should go back." Ilandere murmured. This time both Daisuke and Shampoo whipped their heads around, listening intently to their trainers.

"I want to go back," Ruby whispered, leaning her elbows on her knees and clasping her hands together. "But I want to stay more. I miss them, but, Illy, we've always dreamed of having an adventure! This is our only chance. The _only_ chance. If we leave, we can't get back." Ruby turned herself in her chair, facing her older sister and grabbed her arm, staring at her face. Ilandere lightly touched her sisters hand, but looked away.

"What are we leaving behind though, Ruby? Our family, the people who raised us to be who we are! Granted, neither of us had very many friends, save each other really, in school in L.A. but we had mom, dad and Calum. Say we have kids here, they'll never know their-" Ruby interrupted her, standing up, arms crossed.

"I'm not going back, Ilandere, I'm not. Goodnight." Ruby stormed into the adjoining room, waiting long enough for Shampoo to follow her, before slamming the door shut. Ilandere shivered, and Daisuke, thinking she was crying, was quickly by her side.

"Ilandere?" He asked softly, gently touching her shoulder. Ilandere looked up at him, her silvery eyes void of tears, though there were dark shadows under her eyes from being tired. She gave her Bishie a gentle smile and then patted his hand, getting up and crossing the room to grab her bag. She pulled out the closet capsule and opened it, selecting her nightclothes quickly.

"Would you mind turning around so I can change?" Ilandere asked Daisuke. The Bishounen flushed and turned away, going so far as to close his eyes. It didn't take very long before Ilandere told him she was finished. Daisuke turned back around, stroking Wiz, who had bounded up onto the roll-away bed and watched as his trainer put the closet back in its capsule. The shower knobs squeaked as they were turned off and Daisuke jumped, relaxing when he realized what it was. He bit his bottom lip, glancing at Ilandere as she got into one of the beds, sighing softly. After a moment the door opened and Gareas came out, dressed in his own nightclothes, since Ilandere had caught him with his own bag of capsules.

"Goodnight Daisuke, goodnight Gareas. Oh, night to you too Wiz." Ilandere laughed softly, shutting off the lamp beside her bed. Daisuke didn't think she was asleep, but Ilandere didn't move or say a word.

---

"Won't you even consider traveling with us for a while?" Ilandere asked her little sister. Ruby frowned at her and quickly shook her head, grabbing her bag and throwing it over her shoulder. Shampoo was already packed and ready to go. Gareas and Daisuke, Dark had decided the least thing Ilandere needed was him showing up to make a joke, waited quietly in the room Ilandere had paid for, though they could see her plainly.

"I can't sis, really, I can't. I love you and all that junk, but I want an adventure and being with you... It reminds me of home. I think I need to be on my own for a while. I have your Dex number and you have mine, we can keep in contact and maybe later we'll move into little hovels next to each other, but no. I can't travel with you. Oh, and don't call me every five minutes like mom do- did. See you later." With a swift peck on the cheek Ruby was walking away, Shampoo right beside her. Ilandere wrapped her arms around herself, but had to call out.

"Keep my sister safe Shampoo!" To which the little Chinese girl turned and gave Ilandere a salute. Shampoo had made it clear, even to Ruby's annoyance, that she believed Ilandere was head of her 'tribe' since she was the oldest. Ilandere walked back into the room she had been sharing with her Bishounen. Daisuke smiled at her, Gareas just stared at her solemnly.

"After some breakfast why don't we head out?" Ilandere asked, her voice cracking as she picked up the phone to order room service. Daisuke and Gareas shared a glance, but said nothing to their trainer, her eyes were still dry.

**Authors Note:** Okay! Done, finally. I would have been finished yesterday, but Ruby was a tough one. I'll start using reviewers as characters in the next chapter, for now I just wanted to establish Ilandere as a person a little more, flesh her out. Space Lion is actually a track on the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack, which the Dex began to tell you before Ilandere cut it off. :)

ParallaxRider: Perfect profile, thanks and yes, of course you can be in it. I'm familiar with Fruits Basket, so Suki can have those Bishies and if you want Kosuke too just tell me. Last thing though, about how long had Suki been in the Bish-world?

PeaceLoveOcelot: Oh no, don't worry, you didn't embarrass me! I was very pleased that someone liked this so much and yes, of course I would love to have you in this too, just give me a profile and we'll be set. :)

Oh, another thing, it's very likely that if I don't get too many reviewers, or too many that want to be in this, then I'll use the characters you two have given me at another point in the story. A later chapter -very, very later- has a few trainers involved in some of the more serious aspects. Anyway, onwards and forwards! Hopefully I'll be able to finish another chapter this weekend. Ja!


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